MERS coronavirus: Qatari man is the 139th confirmed case globally
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced today a new laboratory confirmed case of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection in a patient from Qatar.
According to the update, the patient is a 61-year-old man with underlying medical conditions who was admitted to a hospital on 11 October 2013. He is currently hospitalized and is in a stable condition.
The patient was tested positive for MERS-CoV infection in Qatar and was confirmed by the reference laboratory of Public Health England yesterday.
The UN health agency says the patient has no recent history of travel outside his country; however, they report he owns a farm and has had significant contact with the animals, including camels, sheep and hens, although all testing done to date on the farm animals were negative for the virus.
Globally, from September 2012 to date, WHO has been informed of a total of 139 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including 60 deaths.
He is the sixth confirmed case of MERS-CoV from Qatar since its first appearance last spring.
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